To share a data product from SAP BDC with an external tool, you must first establish a connection between your external partner tool and the SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) ecosystem.
You can achieve this using two primary methods:
- Provision the tool directly within SAP Business Data Cloud.
- Connect your existing tool using SAP BDC Connect.
After completing the setup, use the BDC Cockpit as your central hub to manage, publish, and share data products with consumers.
The following example demonstrates this process using SAP Databricks.
Before sharing a data product, ensure you meet the following prerequisites:
- Activate the data packages containing the data products you intend to share.
- Verify that SAP BDC assigns you the Data Catalog Administrator role.
- Verify that SAP Databricks assigns you the USE PROVIDER and CREATE_CATALOG roles.
Sharing an SAP Data Product with SAP Databricks
Follow these steps to share an SAP-delivered data product with SAP Databricks:
- Launch the SAP BDC cockpit.
- Use the Search function to locate the desired data product.
- Select the data product and choose Share to open the Manage Share Access dialog.
- Select Add Target.
- Select your target system (SAP Databricks).
- Enter a name for the generated Delta Share catalog.
Note
The Delta Share catalog is the SAP Databricks component where users access your shared data. - Select the SAP Databricks workspaces where you want the shared data to be available.
Note
In SAP Databricks, a workspace is a cloud-based environment where teams access tools and resources.
Organizations can define a single workspace for all users or multiple workspaces for specific teams.
Once you share it, the data product displays a Shared status in the SAP BDC catalog.
In SAP Databricks, shared data products appear in the Delta Shares Received section of the Unity Catalog.
Unity Catalog
Unity Catalog is a governance solution for data and AI resources in SAP Databricks. It acts as a central library to help you:
- Manage access permissions for specific resources.
- Track data lineage and changes.
- Identify data origins.
- Discover data across all SAP Databricks workspaces.
Unity Catalog organizes data objects into a three-level hierarchy:
- Catalogs: The primary container for organizing data. You can share these across workspaces within the same region and account.
- Schemas: Subdivisions within catalogs.
- Tables: Objects that organize structured data. In SAP Databricks, these are typically Delta tables (Delta Lake tables).
Note
A Delta table is a file format optimized for high-volume storage and efficient access.
Data Products and Delta Share
In SAP BDC, the system bundles business data (such as company code) into a data product. This product includes an ORD file for discoverability. Open Resource Discovery (ORD) is an industry-standard protocol that allows compliant consumers to find data products within SAP BDC.
In SAP Databricks, the system organizes the data into a catalog of type DELTASHARING_CATALOG (for example, companycode_share). The catalog uses the name you defined in the Manage Share Access dialog by default. You must have MANAGE permissions to rename a shared catalog.
The Delta Share catalog contains a Schema (such as companycode), which is a group of all the delta tables associated with your data product.
You can now perform queries on the delta tables.
Removing a Shared Product
While shared data products appear in SAP Databricks, you cannot remove them from that interface.
To stop sharing, return to the SAP BDC cockpit and access the Share settings for the product.
In the Manage Access dialog, select the Delete (cross) icon to remove the data product from the target system.
Summary
- You can share active SAP data products directly from the SAP BDC cockpit.
- Shared products appear as Delta Share catalogs within SAP Databricks workspaces.
- Users access data via delta tables located within the catalog's schema.
- To remove a share, you must delete the target system entry in the SAP BDC Manage Access dialog.